Shiseido Company, Limited announced three key changes to its organizational structure in the U.S. designed to strengthen corporate support for its family of brands and provide an improved platform to accelerate their growth both in the US and globally.

Specifically, the company announced it will align the U.S. finance, legal and human resources functions of its premier consumer brands, including Bare Escentuals, Beauté Prestige International USA, Nars and Shiseido, into a unified, shared services platform. The company also announced the consolidation of US distribution operations for most of its brands at its distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, which will become the Shiseido Americas Distribution Center. Finally, the company announced plans to formally merge its U.S. manufacturing business, Shiseido America Inc. (SAI), into its Americas umbrella organization, Shiseido Americas Corporation (SAC).

“Together these changes create a seamless, world-class corporate, manufacturing and distribution platform in the US that will benefit all of our brands in the region,” said Carsten Fischer, representative director and COO of global business for Shiseido Company Ltd. and chairman and CEO Shiseido Americas Corporation.

Commenting specifically on the alignment of back office and administrative functions, which is effective immediately, Fischer continued, “We are committed to preserving each brand’s unique character and individual spirit, and we expect this shared services platform will better position each of the brands for future growth by providing world class support in the US. By combining the back office strengths of our various brands, each can become a stronger player in the US as well as globally, and the company can more efficiently and effectively serve its valued partners and customers.”

Shiseido has also begun the process of streamlining its US distribution operations and expects to complete the facility consolidation by the end of the third quarter of 2013. The Columbus center will expand its operations to handle shipment of products to the Americas and globally for multiple brands. A smaller distribution center to be established at the company’s existing manufacturing facility in East Windsor, New Jersey, will handle export of US-manufactured Shiseido brand products to Europe and Asia.

“The formal merger of SAC and SAI, which are already fairly integrated from an operational standpoint, will further streamline our organizational structure,” said Fischer, commenting on the subsidiary merger Shiseido intends to effectuate as of January 1, 2014. “We believe the merger, coupled with the other changes announced today, will promote efficiency, enable more flexible allocation of management resources and result in meaningful synergies that will benefit all of our stakeholders.”